- Application Form
- Financial Aid Application
- Personal Statement
- Application Fee and Payment Options
- Recommendations
- Resume
- Transcripts
- Admissions Tests
- Writing Samples
Important information regarding the Online Application. Please complete the Online Application
Form as instructed on the application. When you have finished filling out the form, click the submit button to apply. Click this button only once. If you apply using the Online Form do not send us an additional paper copy of the form--this may create a duplicate case for you and delay your admissions process.
If you use a PC to fill out the online form, you should receive a confirmation page indicating that your application was received by the Lynch School of Education. The confirmation page will contain an Identification Number that is unique to your candidacy as an applicant. Please include this number (or your social security number) on all other paper materials (e.g., personal statement, letters of recommendation, resume, etc.) you submit to the Lynch School. You should also have an opportunity to pay the application fee at this point.
If you use a Mac to fill out the online form, you may not receive a confirmation message. If this is the case you can contact the Admissions Office to ensure the form was received.
If you receive any type of error message when submitting the online form, your first step should be to contact the Admissions Office to see if it was received successfully. Do not resubmit the form without checking with the Admissions Office. In most cases the form is received despite the error message.
Additional information is contained on the Technical Requirements Page.
Important note about paper materials that supplement the online application:
The application for admission can be submitted electronically. However, it is necessary to submit several other documents (e.g., transcripts, letters of recommendation, resume, statement of
purpose, writing sample (for doctoral students) in paper. We ask that you collect these items and send them together in a single package to the following address:
Boston College Lynch School of Education
Data Processing Center
P.O. Box 226
Randolph, MA 02368-9998
Note that private express mail companies (such as Federal Express) do not deliver to P.O. boxes. Domestic applicants are urged to use regular U.S. Postal Service to deliver paper materials. (Please note also that USPS will not deliver its express, certified, or registered mail to P.O. boxes.) International applicants should mail their paper materials as early as possible to allow for potential delays. In an emergency, please contact the Lynch School Admissions Office for instructions.
Downloading the application – If you choose to download the application and fill it out by hand, please carefully follow the instructions that correspond
with the document you will find at this link. Please try to fill the form out as completely as possible.
Financial Aid Application
U.S. Citizens and permanent residents who believe they may qualify for federal loans, work-study, or both should follow the procedures listed at http://www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/financial/finaid/grad/begin/. Although you will not be considered until you have been formally admitted to a Lynch School program, you should prepare your FAFSA and Boston College Graduate Financial Aid Application as soon as possible.
Personal Statement
The statement of purpose, usually two or three pages in length, describes your academic and professional goals and any experience relevant to the program to which you are applying. This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your writing skills as you describe your future plans, expectations, and aspirations. Note: If you are applying to the Donovan Teaching Scholar Program, please describe your interest in urban teaching and experience you have had working in any capacity in an urban setting.
- Please be sure to attach a cover sheet to your personal statement that clearly shows your full name, date of birth, social security number, and the program to which you are applying. Do not attach anything else to your statement.
Application Fee and Payment Options
A non-refundable application fee of $60 is required for all degree and non-degree applications. Applicants have two payments options:
- Pay by credit or debit card via the web; use this link to take advantage of the pay online option. You must already have an application on file to use this payment link--you will need your application confirmation ID
- Pay by check or money order made payable to Boston College, via regular mail. If you are applying online, please print a copy of your confirmation page and send your check/money order and the confirmation page along with the rest of your paper materials in one package to the address above. If you are applying via paper application, please include your check/money order with all of your materials in one package to the address above.
The application fee is waived for Boston College Fifth-Year Program applicants. The fee is also waived for applicants involved in Teach for America, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, the McNair Scholars Program, and the Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers.
Recommendations
Applicants must download and fill out the Letter of Recommendation Cover Form before providing the form to the recommender. The information on this form will allow us to match your document with your online application.
- Letter of Recommendation Cover Form
- Please provide your full name as you typed it on the application form
- Your Social Security Number or the application ID number provided when you submitted your application online.
- The program, concentration, degree, and term of entry to which you are applying
At least three letters of recommendation are required of doctoral applicants, with at least two from academic sources (professors familiar with your academic work) and one or more from a practical or applied setting. At least two letters of recommendation are required of master's applicants. These should be from academic sources. Master's applicants with significant relevant professional experience may submit additional letters of reference from supervisors.
Ask your recommenders to place the recommendation in an envelope you provide for them, seal the envelope, and sign it across the seal. As indicated on the recommendation form, recommenders may prefer to mail their letter directly to our data processing center (above address). It is also acceptable for them to submit a letter without the recommendation form.
Photocopies of letters are not acceptable. Letters on file with university placement offices are acceptable, however, if sent directly by the university and signed by a placement official.
Resume or Curriculum Vitae
Resumes are required for doctoral applicants and requested of master's applicants who have an interest in being considered for an assistantship.
Transcripts
Official university/college transcripts, bearing the official seal of the institution and the signature of the registrar, are required for all previous post-secondary education. Certified copies are acceptable, but photocopies are not. We only require one copy of each transcript.
Request that the registrar or appropriate official of each institution at which you enrolled in undergraduate and/or graduate course work send copies of your transcript to you. The school official should seal your transcript in an envelope, sign across the seal, and return the sealed envelope to you. Any documents in languages other than English should include a certified English translation, in addition to the original language document.
Students who file applications prior to the completion of their undergraduate work must subsequently send a final transcript, showing all
coursework, degree granted, and date of degree to the Office of Graduate Admission, Financial Aid, and Student Services in Campion Hall 135. This is necessary for final confirmation of an offer of admission to the Lynch School. You should arrange to have this final transcript sent to the above address as soon as you have completed your present course of study, and prior to enrollment. Your offer of admission could be rescinded if we do not receive an official copy of this transcript before the beginning of your first term.
Admissions Tests
Official test scores must come directly from the testing agency. Applicants should make arrangements to register for admissions tests well in advance of application deadlines to assure that the test results will arrive in time. All test results must be received on or before the application deadline.
The Graduate Record Exam is offered electronically and it takes approximately three weeks for us to receive the results. We will get an electronic transmission of any GRE scores identified by the applicant with the Lynch School code below. For GRE tests taken prior to the application year, please notify ETS that you would like to have the scores transmitted to the Lynch School, using the same code provided below.
The GRE General Test (Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytic Writing Sample) is required of all doctoral applicants, applicants to the M.A. program in Counseling and applicants to the M.Ed. or M.S.T. in Mathematics. Applicants to all other master’s programs are required to submit scores from the GRE *or* from one of the following tests: the Miller Analogy Test, the LSAT, the GMAT, or the MCAT. If you will be submitting the LSAT or the GMAT, you will find that these tests are only reported by testing agencies to law schools and management schools. You may have the score sent to the Boston College Law School and the Boston College Carroll School of Management. Please call or email to alert us so that we can retrieve the scores from the appropriate school. The Miller Analogy Test is reported directly to us, and it takes approximately 3 weeks for us to receive the scores. Please use the following codes:
GRE School Code: 3218
Miller Analogy Test Code: 1194
For test dates and sites, visit the ETS Website or call ETS at 609.921.9000.
Applicants for whom the Miller Analogy Test is an appropriate test should contact Harcourt in San Antonio, TX, at 800.622.3231 for information about testing centers and dates.
If you have already taken the appropriate standardized tests, please report the scores in the available space on the Application form. Official acceptance, however, is contingent upon receipt of official scores.
Writing Samples (for doctoral applicants only)
Doctoral applicants are asked to submit one piece of work that demonstrates their writing ability. This writing sample may be an academic term paper, a published work in which you are the primary author, a training manual or curriculum that you have created, a clinical case formulation, or another representative sample of your writing.
- Please be sure to attach a cover sheet to your writing sample that clearly shows your full name, date of birth, social security number, and the program to which you are applying. Do not attach anything else to your sample.
Boston College students studying in Bapst Library